The Kules Family

Happy Valentine's Day!

2012-02-14T22:25:00.000-05:00

The story behind the picture:

I hurt my shoulder... not sure what's going on but I had to put the camera down between photos it was hurting so bad.

I watched cooking shows with Jillian during 'quiet time' and almost went out to the store to buy nice ingredients to make a fantastic meal for our family but ended up serving everyone bean burritos for dinner instead. Although, I did make my own flour tortillas which turned out pretty nicely. I even made a heart shaped one for Jillian.

I hosted a play date at the house today for some new friends in the area. It was nice to get to know some new people but a little bit exhausting due to my shoulder.

Tonight I have about 1 million things to do online but my computer is so full of photos I had to stop and move pictures around so it would work properly.

Ryan had roses delivered for me today (very pretty!) but aside from that (and a gift the girls gave him this morning) we are pretending Valentine's Day is this coming Friday. I thought I had a couple simple things for the girls but I guess my order was not recorded properly?! Argh. Oh well. Also, Ryan overheard me telling a friend of mine what I got him for Valentine's Day so I'm thinking a few extra days for him to forget won't hurt. Ha! Why Friday? Because that's when something Ryan ordered for me will arrive. I guess we are Valentine slackers this year!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Nancy

Smart Jillian

2012-01-22T22:26:00.000-05:00

I know she's mine so I'm naturally bound by the oath of Motherhood to think she is one (of three) of the most brilliant creatures on the planet. However even if this notion was not mandatory, I think I'd be amazed by her. I'll assume you don't have 9 minutes to watch this video, and that's okay. But... if you do, prepare to be impressed. -smile-

She's getting so big!

It's not just the kids I attack with the camera...

2012-01-03T20:47:00.003-05:00

Also, I just think this is so cute... I told Jillian Evan could sit all by himself now, but she's "too nervous to let him do it" because...

"He might bump his precious little head."

Love this.

Christmas, 2011

2012-01-01T23:09:00.000-05:00

To see all the photos from our Christmas, click HERE!

The note we left for Jillian before going to bed. She snuck out of bed in the night and read it but, "knew it was not true yet because the sun was still in Egypt." Side story for Christmas this year- Jillian does not believe in Santa. Long story, but the short version is that she asked me point blank, and I answered. Ryan and I never had over the top Santa experiences as children so we're not heartbroken about this. The only trouble is at the grocery store (or insert other errand here) where adults ask, "Are you excited about Santa?" and she nods politely or says things like, "yes, wouldn't that be a fun idea." lol. After this happens she always wants to have a conversation about how silly these people are and how they, "didn't know she already knew the secret that is for adults". Oh... this kid...

Ryan was VERY excited to buy a telescope "mostly for Jillian but to share with the whole family". He was however, unaware this gift would require him to get a serious education in astronomy. We're getting there...

I ADORE how Liv is excited about anything anyone else is excited about. She's such a sweet girl.

Liv's favorite gift: Jillian's new rain boots. And, candy.

Evan got a football & other fun baby items. He looks less that enthusiastic in this photo because he was EXHAUSTED and his mother thought it was a good idea to make him push through his morning nap for the sake of Christmas morning photos. That mother of his is obsessed with photos.

Love her.

Love him.

Love how our kids will "cheers" with any beverage they may be drinking. Bonus if they are drinking out of glass cups.

Love how Jillian said her favorite thing I "made" for breakfast was a sliced strawberry. She went on and on about how nice it was. Of course using as many descriptive words as possible. She was far less enthusiastic about the eggs, or hash browns.

Liv was less verbal about how great our breakfast was... more visual, and more appreciative of hash browns.

Evan checking out his new toys.

Last one... I love that these people are mine. I love that even though sometimes I feel a little left out hardly being on the other side of the camera I feel better knowing that the photos I'm capturing are the things that MY eyes are seeing. These are my memories in concrete form. You can't beat that! I love these people with all of my heart. They are the most important things to me in the world. Merry Christmas, everyone!

Christmas Day!

2011-12-28T22:06:00.000-05:00

Hope your day was as fabulous as ours was!

Wishing you and yours a fabulous New Year!

Christmas Eve- 3rd year to NYC!

2011-12-24T22:23:00.002-05:00

To see all the photos from today, click HERE!

2011

2010

2009

This was our third year taking the train to and from NYC on Christmas Eve. It's a BUSY day, but totally worth the effort. It's getting to be more and more fun as the kids are getting older too.

I'm really REALLY big on traditions, so this is perfect for me. Ryan's really into this one too, so that makes it easy.

We don't quite have our breakfast part of this tradition mailed down yet... last year we drove through somewhere on the way to the train (I think?) and this year we bought $17 worth of food from the cafe car on the Amtrak (which is just a coffee, muffin, yogurt, milk & 2 bagels). Since we're usually in a hurry to get out the door, I'm thinking some kind of make-the-night-before breakfast casserole we can take with us might work well. Suggestions?!?

Anyway- we were a little up in the air about where our NYC lunch favorite would be (Mr. Broadway would have been our pick but they are closed on Saturdays...) so today we went to Johns Pizzeria and holy cow, we're never turning back. That's nothing against the awesome Shawarma you can get from Mr. Broadway but this pizza... and the pizza roll appetizers? Oh. My. So fresh, so tasty. Must try if you are in NYC. We watched the guys make our stuff and then shove it into the massive brick ovens. Mmm! And, it's a good sized place (HUGE in NYC standards) so there was plenty of room for us to all sit at a table and eat. It was perfect.

After lunch we headed to the tree in a taxi. Jillian looks forward to the taxi ride (and "pushing the TV") the whole year. Seriously. If you mention NYC she will always bring this up. It's a (totally germ ridden) highlight for her. Go figure. Taxi without car seats= terrifying for parents.

The tree was a little sparse this year to be honest- there was a guy behind us critiquing it for about 5 straight minutes. It made me want to defend this beautiful pine so here it goes: The tree in NYC was beautiful! I always love to see how many lights they manage to squeeze onto it, and I love to read the story about where the tree came from. This year it is a 75 year old 74 foot Norway Spruce from Middinville, PA. There's a good article/photos about it HERE.

This year Jillian took ice skating lessons so I think the people ice skating were of particular interest to her. It is always fun to watch all the people going around but we've yet to stand in that (very long) line to participate. Once all the kids can do it, I think we will. Liv barely looked at them because at this point she was exhausted. She was a trooper though!

After the tree it's a little walk over to Carnegie Deli to grab dinner to bring back on the train with us. We've done this all three years and there's no going back- one sandwich feeds all of us (granted, it costs about $20) but it's always tender & delicious. So yummy. This year we tried a roast beef and while it was lovely, we'll go back to the pastrami with provolone next year I think.

Taxi back to Penn Station and 3 hours back home. Long day? Yes. Worth it? TOTALLY.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE!!! Hope you day tomorrow is WONDERFUL! We're so looking forward to our little sweeties opening their gifts!

Nancy

Yup, we're still here!

2011-12-13T20:04:00.001-05:00

Lots to do, lots to post, little time to do it all. So, I'm still taking pictures but I'll have to share them another time. Just a tiny effort to live in the moment during this crazy season and hang onto my sanity at the same time!

Hope all is well! Only 12 days to go!!!

Happy Fall!

2011-10-18T14:01:00.001-04:00

The leaves are changing, the air is crisp... Ah! My favorite time of year! Except maybe Spring... that's pretty awesome too :)

Hope you're out there enjoying it!

Back on Aug. 22nd...

2011-10-17T22:09:00.000-04:00

Jillian started Pre-K.

Before that, we went back to school shopping and Jillian was quite excited to purchase the things she needed for her class. Particularly scissors. She's really excited about using scissors as much as possible. -smile-

We had a great time picking everything out:

Sweet Jilli:

And even made a guy at Office Max take our picture:

Jillian carried the bag herself and was very excited to show it to Daddy, Liv & Evan:

Before the first day, we picked out her outfit (a new dress!) and talked a lot about how things would go on the big day:

After she went to sleep I added this little note and necklace to the top of her clothing. The necklace was special because I wore it just a few days before in my friend Natalie's wedding. I let Jillian wear it and Ryan and I 'filled it with kisses' in case she missed us while she was at school. We told her she could touch the necklace and think about how much we loved her and how we would be back at noon to pick her up:

Here she is in the morning on the way to school eating some bagel in Ryan's truck. Our whole family went to drop her off together:

She RAN to the door and opened it:

Sniff, sniff... really? Our baby in Pre-K?!

Here's Jillian with her teacher, 'Miss Kelly'. She also has Miss Laurie & Miss Linda.

This photo was posted on the school website after the first day. Doesn't Jillian look tiny?! She did great at drop off without a single hesitation or tear- although we did not keep that streak alive and had a bit of a hard time for about 3-4 mornings toward the beginning... all better now though!)

Afterwards, our whole family picked her up and asked where she wanted to go for a special family lunch. Chipolte:

Usually she just shares food with me, but our school girl got her VERY OWN kids meal that day. Oh la la!

One more set of photos... After pick up she happily posed for a few photos outside of the school:

Silly Sassy Girl:

Love this kid:

And there you go- LOTS of photos to document her first preschool experience. We've been at it for about 8 weeks now and she is really enjoying the school, teachers, and new friends. It's interesting for me to have her away from the house from 8-noon three days a week. I gotta say, I miss her while she's gone! However, even though I do miss her, this whole preschool thing has not been as hard for me as I thought it might be... (I didn't even cry the first day when we dropped her off!!) I love watching Jillian reach milestones like this! We could not be more proud of her!

Nancy

We're still here!

2011-10-11T22:27:00.000-04:00

Has it really been this long since I've posted something on here? Sorry. We're crazy busy.

You might say we're up to our knees in....

MUD.

I'm looking forward to our marathon house project wrapping up so I can tell the whole story backwards and fill you in on the last months here at the Kules house.

For now, I'll simply say when digging our addition in the backyard it seems we ran into a little underground river. And that river was not so happy about our new master bedroom.

So a little more of this:

And a little bit of this:

In short: When life gives you an underground river, take a mud bath.

Liv's birthday party... x3!

2011-09-08T15:38:00.003-04:00

Sweet Liv turned two on August 20th. and.... August 28th, AND September 4th. lol Why?

Because:

on the 20th I was in California celebrating the marriage of one of my best friends and although I was sad to miss Liv's official birthday, I'm happy to share this date with an amazing couple and happy I'll never forget their anniversary! So, celebration #1- ice cream with Daddy and Jillian and out to dinner!
on the 28th we had a lunch planned for a big group of people, and then hurricane Irene changed things a bit- the restaurant we chose lost power and so we called it off. Celebration #2- Some friends of ours near our new house didn't want to leave the birthday girl stranded without a celebration so I ran to the only open supermarket I could find, grabbed some ready made subs, a cake, and some sherbet ice cream and had a little party at their house. Since we have 3 kids, and they have 4 it was basically a full on party. haha!
on the 4th we re-invited all of our friends to lunch and although we had a smaller group due to the holiday weekend, it was a great time and most important- Liv loved it!

At our friends house:

Liv's favorite part of any celebration- ice cream:

Posing behind her cake:

Opening a present from our sweet friends:

It's my party and I'll pout if I want to:

Take 2 on our lunch out- I made a brownie "cake" instead of cupcakes because it occurred to me (after celebration #1) that Liv does not really care for cake. I asked her if she would rather have cupcakes or brownies and she said, "BNEEEES!" so, brownies it is:

Here's Ryan standing at the register waiting to treat our friends to lunch:

Here's a shot where you can see most of the kids. The table in the middle is 6 highchairs. Aw. All the kids really enjoyed their food and looked so cute sitting under all the balloons:

More kids:

Liv eating her favorite BBQ, smoked turkey:

Getting ready to sing to the birthday girl:

Some help blowing out the candles:

Ryan and I:

Daddy, Mommy & the birthday girl:

Our whole family:

The birthday girl with her favorite treat:

At home after a nap enjoying some present opening:

That's it! Liv's birthday is officially celebrated!

To see more photos, click HERE!

Nancy

Liv Madeline Kules- 2 years old!

2011-08-31T15:58:00.001-04:00

To see all of Liv's 2 year old portraits, click HERE!

Liv has been two years old for a touch over a week now, and she seems to be liking it so far! Whenever we ask her how old she is she stares at her chubby little fingers, wrinkles her brow and tries as hard as she can to put two fingers in the air. Sometimes she can figure it out, but most of the time she ends up just wiggling her fingers around and laughing.

It's interesting watching Liv as she develops into her unique little self. She's so different than Jillian was at this age. Just like walking/crawling, Liv has taken her time with talking. Right now however, her vocabulary is exploding! It's so funny to listen to her as she surprises us with the things she knows... Sometimes when we use simple words like car or chair she will correct us, "Mini-van, barstool". Ha! Yup. I suppose that is the more specific word for those objects. You got us Livy Lou!

Liv is also starting to use sentences more. Sometimes she runs on and on with something she is thinking about and it gets a little difficult to understand, but more and more we are able to hear what's going on inside that little brain of hers and we LOVE that. This is a super age. So. Much. Fun.

Liv is not a performer. She likes to do things at her own pace, because it was her idea. This has been a transition since our last 2 year old would (literally) recite the Pledge of Allegiance at this age if you promised you would clap for her at the end. What this means for me is I have to be more sneaky when I'm trying to assess what she knows. Instead of saying, "Liv, what color is this?" I have to say- "Liv, can you get me a crayon?" and then when she hands one to me, I pretend as though I'm confused and say... "Hmmm... what color is this?" to which she will reply, "blue"! Oh, she's gonna be a fun 2 year old, don't you think?

Liv still sucks her thumb if she can get away with it. We're at the point where we can just give her a stern look and she will take it out but that usually results in her bursting into tears. The best technique right now seems to be saying something along the lines of, "Hey Liv... instead of sucking your thumb, do you want to hold this book?"

Liv loves shoes and talks about them quite often. She has little feet (size 5) but I'm pretty sure it's time for the 5.5's and 6's... Perhaps we should buy her a new pair of shoes as an incentive to potty train. She talks about using the restroom ALL the time, but so far (despite lots of opportunities!) has yet to be successful in this venture. She will go into the bathroom and try but quickly says, "all done". She has started to be very excited for Jillian and I when we go though- nothing quite like having a cheering section when using the bathroom- "GOOD GIRL MOMMY!" HAHA!

I have never seen a child who wrinkles her brow as much as Liv does. We call it her suspicious face. She does it OFTEN. Whenever a stranger (or really, anyone who is not our immediate family) talks to her, she usually sizes them up with her little eyes and refuses to talk to them at all.

I'm very interested in hearing what Liv has to say once she is talking more fluently. Jillian was such a DO-er, and Liv is more of an observer. I'm so interested to hear about what she thinks about all the things she's been soaking in for the past 2 years!

Have I mentioned Liv's independent streak yet? Haha! She really does not like being told what to do and her favorite sentence right now is, "I don't want to". We're working on changing that to "No thank you".

Despite her stubborn ways, Liv does have very good manners. She will almost always (unprompted) say please and thank you. She also LOVES to say, "bless you" when someone sneezes. I think bless you was one of the first things she said clearly.

When Liv smiles, it lights up the room. Honestly, I think it's just about the best thing in the world. Her little eyes sparkle and her throaty laugh is contagious. She loves to be funny. She tells me, "I'm funny!" all the time. When I agree, she hams it up and repeats "I'm funny" in a raspy growly voice. It really is quite humorous. Love it.

When Liv cries (which is still fairly often- I like to say she is our "delicate little flower") I tell her she is "welcome to cry if she needs to, but please do it more quietly because we don't care for the way that sounds". After that, she will cover her face with her hands and cry really quietly until she lifts her little tear streaked face, wipes her eyes and says with an exhausted sigh, "all done". I try to nod understandingly when it's over, but really I feel like laughing. Hello drama queen!

Every night before bed and nap we sing Liv her nap/bed time song. (To the tune of Row Row Row Your Boat: Time time time for bed/nap sweet little Liv, we'll-kiss-you-and-hug-you-and-pat-you-and-rub-you, now rest your little head.) She gets to pick who she would like to hug and kiss first and often makes quite a production about her choices... whatever she can do to delay the inevitable!

Liv likes: to read in her crib, anything Elmo or Dora, brushing peoples hair, cheese, yogurt, bread, steak, french fries, crackers, dressing up, being held, playing with Jillian, her little brother 'Onion', putting laundry into the hamper, taking showers, the color yellow, being tickled, and her Mommy and Daddy.

We love: her sweet little face, her independent spirit, her sparkly eyes, her sneaky smile, her huge and sensitive heart, her ability to control herself, the way she turns in a circle and says "pretty girl" after she gets dressed/her hair done in the morning, her willingness to follow important directions and the way she sounds like a dinosaur when she stomps around the house!

Oh, and I also want to document this mushy Mommy moment: When I hold Liv's hand as we are walking, it melts my heart every time. I'm not sure exactly what it is but the feeling of her little hand inside mine is priceless.

That's it for Liv's 2 year old update! Stories/Photos from her birthday celebrations soon... it's been a bit of a trick getting her party put together!

Nancy

Moving Day...

2011-08-01T16:55:00.001-04:00

On Friday night we had our last night in the house... The house we brought all three of our babies home to. It's a little sad, but man, we're on an adventure.

Because: You might think our first night at the new place would have been Saturday, but alas. Let's just say I've never been so glad to have a friend away at the beach for a week. Her family left, our family moved in. Oh boy. Yup- we're essentially homeless right now, but about as comfortable as homelessness can be thanks to our wonderful friends! Thanks guys!!!

I hope to be sharing some photos of the kids on their first night in their NEW rooms soon, but for now, here's Thursday night in the old house... Friday we slept there without any furniture/beds at all! Lots of blankets and air mattresses!

The next morning the guys came to load the boxes which had been packed on Thursday. They were crazy to watch, and Jillian was thrilled to photograph the whole thing. I have lots of fun photos she took. It's so cute to see the whole event through her eyes... See Jillian in the lower right hand corner of this pic? She's sitting in her "picture taking chair" out of the way of all the chaos...

And, the next morning before we did the final walk through and exchange of the keys, the girls sat on "the big rock" and ate donuts.

Quick rinse to remove donut mess, and that was it. No more Bowie house. Sniff Sniff.

Fingers crossed for more photos SOON of us in the new-to-us place!

Nancy

My New Favorite Photo of Liv

2011-07-12T21:46:00.000-04:00

Happy 4th!

2011-07-04T14:18:00.001-04:00

Ice cream, anyone?

2011-07-03T10:36:00.000-04:00

If you give Jillian ice cream with sprinkles while you're driving in the car, what will she look like when she gets out of the car?

Reasonably clean, and really happy:

And, she will still ask to be documented with, "a new beautiful gorgeous exquisite flower" in our yard:

And, if you give Liv that same ice cream with sprinkles, what will SHE look like when she gets out of the car?

Did I do something wrong?

Oh, you're laughing and taking my picture! It's all good!

I loved that ice cream! Thanks guys:

Happy 4th of July weekend!

Father's Day 2011

2011-06-19T23:18:00.004-04:00

We had a wonderful day today celebrating the wonderful Dad in our house. Lots of pictures and stories of the day later... For now, photos.

Question:

How many pictures does it take to get one keeper of a Dad with three kids?

Answer:

LOTS.

A FEW of the funnier out takes:

Can you tell who the photo trouble maker is??

The keeper:

Hope everyone had a wonderful day- especially our Dads, Jay & Randall! Jay, there's a pro printed copy of this picture of Ryan and the kids headed your way as a Father's Day gift... I tried to get Evan to come out early so it could be there on time, but alas... ;)

#1, #2, & #3

2011-06-15T00:36:00.001-04:00

Evan has arrived! For more pics, click HERE!

I know these aren't the best pics, but I'm working with what I could pull offline while we're still at the hospital. Still, for comparison sake:

I'd say they are siblings!!

:) Nancy

Our brown-eyed girl...

2011-06-10T17:32:00.003-04:00

Oh, I could just gobble her up. And, for the record... yes, it's a little harder to capture, but this sweet girl has quite the eye sparkle ability too.

-smile-

Jillian's 4th Birthday Photos

2011-05-31T15:46:00.002-04:00

To see all of Jillian's 4th Birthday portraits, click HERE!

I had been anxious to take photos of Jillian for her 4th birthday, but things have been so busy around here that I got delayed for about 2 weeks. Thankfully, I managed to get them done this morning before Evan makes his debut or it may have never happened!

Jillian is such a good girl when we take pictures- she will do just about anything I say and smiles so pretty. We love her very much. I can't get over how much catchlight/sparkle I can capture in her eyes. She has the perfect eye color for this!

Here's the things about Jillian at this age that I want to remember. Don't feel obligated to read it all, this is my journal so it's the best place for me to record stuff like this! I'll break up the list a little with some photos -wink-

- Jillian is very kind. She thinks about other people and how they are feeling.
- She is a wonderful big sister. She is very helpful to me, and sweet to her little sister. She's looking forward to having a baby brother in the house. She has totally gotten over her aversion to him being a boy.
- Jillian loves to dress up, pretend play with her babies and read books.
- Jillian can read. Not just a little... mostly anything she picks up. When she comes across a word she does not know she will spell it to me or substitute something that makes sense. She's amazing.
- Jillian talks a lot about climbing trees. When we are driving she will point out which trees she thinks she would be able to climb by herself.

- Jillian also talks a lot about death. A few months ago my Grandmother passed away and as a result, we explained the basics about death. Ever since, she often points out what things are alive, and what things are dead. It's interesting to say the least...
- Jillian likes all things fancy. She likes to wear dresses, she likes to wear fancy shoes, she likes to curl her hair. She was over the moon about painting her toes for her birthday and loves to show them to anyone who will look.
- Jillian has two blankets she likes to sleep with. One is "pink blanket" and one is her "crying blanket". The crying blanket is one of those little striped blankets everyone steals from the hospital when they have a baby.

- Jillian is great at listening to Ryan and I. She very rarely gets in trouble and is very sorry when she does. She has a stubborn streak however, and sometimes you can just see in her eyes the fun we have in store over the years to come... :)
- Jillian's bedtime is 8pm and she sleeps until 8am. She does not take a nap (has not for a long while) and does not really require 12 hours at night. She does go in her room to 'rest' while Liv is napping and plays on her bed (sometimes until 10pm) before going to sleep. She always reads a book with us before bed, gets 4 sips of water (an upgrade from the 3 sips she got when she was 3), and gives us hugs and kisses. She loves to delay bedtime with elaborate kissing/hugging routines. We're kinda okay with that ;) Her preference is to drink water out of her "sparkle cup" or "princess cup". She also has us guess every night which cup she will choose.
- In some lighting Jillian's eyes still look very blue, but mostly I think they are blue-grey. She INSISTS they are "just blue".

- Now that Liv is starting to really put up a fight when Jillian takes something from her, we're having to talk more and more about sharing. It's been an adjustment for Jillian. ;)
- Jillian is very sensitive at times and can seriously wake up on the wrong side of the bed. It's odd. Sometimes we have to send her back into her room for her to "get control" and then she will snap out of it.
- Jillian's favorite places to eat are PF Changs, Melting Pot, Outback and Texas Roadhouse. I feel bad for the guys who want to date her in the future. She loves steak. Specifically a filet, medium rare. If it's crowned with blue cheese or gorgonzola, even better. She's not a huge fan of any veggie, but she will eat them without complaining if I give her a portion on her plate that is "not a choice". She has selected green beans as her one veggie she does not have to eat for now. She really likes salads with blue cheese dressing. If asked she always wants spaghetti for dinner with lots of parmesan cheese. She likes anything cheesy.
- Jillian sings all the time. When she's playing by herself (which she does so well) she makes up songs about what she is doing. I love listening to her in her room as she creates a whole world with her babies/barbies/blocks/books. She's so creative!

There's a million more things but this will have to do for now. We love you so much, Jillian! We can't believe we've already known you for four whole years! You constantly surpass our expectations for you and we can't wait to see what this next year brings!

She's getting big....

2011-05-29T17:27:00.001-04:00

Lately, I've been going into Liv's room and finding her in her crib sans diaper. Ugh. It's awful because although she's really pleased with herself, I feel the opposite about the pee all over her blankets and mattress. Not to mention that stripping the bedding off of a crib that is at its lowest setting is none too easy for me these days ;)

Anyway- I know in a way it's a good thing and that it means she is starting to be more aware of her bodily functions and will potty train sooner rather than later but... Really Liv? Right now?!

So, here's what our sweet baby was doing the other day while she was playing outside unattended. Climbing up to the top of the slide (where she's not supposed to be without me being out there) and taking off her diaper. Gotta love the look she's giving as her picture is being taken- "what's your problem?"

Love you, Liv!

More about Jillian's Birthday...

2011-05-27T14:01:00.003-04:00

Let me tell you, May 16th was a JAM packed day! So much so, that I'm just mustering up the energy to post all these photos and tell the whole story of Jillian's 4th birthday celebration.

It all started the day before when Jillian helped me bake up 48 cupcakes and a small personal sized cake for her. She's such a great helper! (Not pictured is me cutting paper pendants for decoration, cutting out foam to create cupcake toppers, and running to the store for balloons/napkins and coordinating birthday girl/birthday sister outfits.... more on that later!)

On her actual birthday, we started out by having cereal as a family (for "special special breakfast"according to Jillian) and headed out the door for Jilli's bowling extravaganza.

Jillian picked out some napkins that she "liked a whole lot" awhile back, so I ran with the color theme and made everything pink and black:

Here's some more close ups... the table looked so cute! Below that, a shot of some of our friends bowling (there were about 20 kids bowling plus little siblings...) and Jillian and Liv setting up a turn with Ryan:

Jillian was SO sweet helping Liv:

Here's the birthday girl posing with her spread and pointing out her FAVORITE part of the whole day... Ryan and I decided she could paint her toenails on her 4th birthday. She's been waiting. Years. haha. She was VERY VERY excited when I took out the polish after finishing her "hot curls" for the party. Oh la la! She's in the big time now!

Time to blow out the candles! She took about 5 blows to get them all out- haha! She was also VERY sweet and shared a bite of her special cake with her sister. Liv was extremely impatient during the whole party about when the cake would be served, so I know she appreciated this!

Here's our family outside after- what a great time we had!

After bowling, Jillian got to pick where she wanted to go for lunch. Chipolte was her choice and in celebration of her special day, she got her VERY OWN kids meal AND a juice. My-oh-my. You have no idea. -wink- Usually it's water and some of my food, so this is a BIG deal! Our friends the Spencers joined in on the fun- it was great to spend the morning with them!

Liv needed a nap, so we headed home, had our lovely sitter come over and hopped back in the car to head to DC for our birthday tradition- Mom, Dad and birthday kid out to explore a monument of their choice. We started this last year when Jillian was 3 (she picked the Washington Monument) and this year her choice was the Lincoln Memorial. The only problem? After driving and finally parking, it started to POUR!!! So, we grabbed a roll of paper towels out of Ryan's truck, and the plastic sun shade for cover (oops, forgot umbrellas) and made a run for it. The shade came in handy to protect my camera bag, but did little for us. By the time we got up the stairs of the monument, we were all soaked through to our underwear! Haha! Memories! Jillian was a little cold and cranky, but a paper towel jacket seemed to help a little...

Once the rain stopped we got a few photos and explored the monument (Jillian will tell you that you can find Lincoln on a penny or a 5 dollar bill and also that he is a statue in a great big chair but when we saw him, he was already dead.) Oh my. ;)

A few photos, and an entire paper towel dress to ride home in wrapped up the DC portion of our day... Did I mention how amazing her toes looked???

After that we intended to go out to dinner, but since we were SOAKED, we headed home for showers and PJ's. Jillian requested to stop at 5 Guys (burger place) on the way home so that's what we did.

After we all dried off, Jillian spent a considerable amount of time opening presents... she's one lucky lady!!!

And finally, a picture which clearly depicts how all of us felt after that marathon birthday?

The last little thing I don't want to forget... those black, white, and pink outfits... The only place I could find that had this color scheme was Kohls, but they only had it in the infant section. Which meant the outfits only went up to 18 months. There was a little tunic style dress with leggings I picked for Liv, but I could not find something for Jillian. Then, I saw a cute little dress (size 18 months) and thought if I paired it with leggings it would not matter that it was short on her. So. I bought pink leggings to go under in size 24 months. Then, when I got the outfits home, I realized Liv's really would go better with the pink pants, and the black was best for Jillian's. That means for Jillian's FOURTH birthday she wore an 18 month size dress with 18 month size pants. And Liv? She wore an 18 month size top, with 24 month size pants. I thought that was pretty darn funny!

HAPPY 4th BIRTHDAY SWEET JILLIAN!

WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

Maternity Photos!

2011-05-26T14:52:00.000-04:00

I put up one photo on EVAN'S BLOG (LINK) yesterday, but wanted to share a link for the rest of the photos in that series on our family site. You can click HERE to see the rest of them!

A LONG while back, Jillian told us that, "Evan told her his zero birthday was going to be on June 4th." So, we'll see!!!! Not too much longer!

Peek-a-boo!

2011-05-22T09:56:00.004-04:00

My friend Ashley was visiting and took this cute video with her phone... had to share! We love Liv!!

Jillian's 4th Birthday so far....

2011-05-16T14:38:00.000-04:00

One quick pic to share... gotta run- more fun birthday plans before Jillian's special day is over!!

Guess What??

2011-05-06T22:02:00.000-04:00

Today marks 60 days since we put the house on the market. And? Today, we signed all the paperwork for our house sale! It's bittersweet for sure... the market (as everyone knows) is considerably lower than when we purchased in 2006 so our final sales price is a good bit lower than we paid, and that's not even taking into consideration all the money spent on improvements.

BUT.

We don't have the stress of selling a house anymore, we are not going to have to carry 2 mortgages when we move, and we're very happy to be done with this process! Also, our realtor worked her butt off on our behalf, and we're very confident that we did as well as we could have under the circumstances. We had a verbal offer about 8 days after we listed, the paper offer complete on day 15 and completed the closing in 2 months from our listing date. Not too shabby!!! -smile- Live anywhere near us and need a realtor? Aside from being an awesome person, Cookie did an amazing job selling our property and we could not recommend her more wholeheartedly! www.cookiedrummond.com

We're leasing back from our buyer through the end of June so we'll welcome Evan into this home and then move when he's a few weeks old. We think that's our best case scenario, and I'm very happy to still be here so near our amazing community of friends we've met over the past 5 years!

What a day!

Ryan's 30th Birthday

2011-04-25T16:58:00.000-04:00

On Saturday, Ryan turned 30! We had a great time celebrating! Ryan's Dad Jay is in town, so we were glad to have him here to join in on the fun.

Our family tradition every Saturday is to make cinnamon rolls. The girls love it, and it's something fun and easy for our family to look forward to. Since Ryan's birthday fell on a Saturday this year, it was cinnamon rolls for everyone!

After breakfast (and a quick trip to a friends house to dye Easter eggs), Ryan and a few friends went golfing.

Jillian has been very anxious to go out "real golfing" with Daddy and this was her opportunity to ride along in the cart with Grandpa Jay:

After golf, our family enjoyed dinner with friends at the golf course:

Including cake & singing:

And a present or two:

It was a great day... Happy Birthday Ryan, we LOVE you! For all the pics of Ryan's birthday, click HERE!!!

More progress!!!

2011-04-22T14:22:00.000-04:00

Just a few days later and now our living room is framed out! Those two long windows will be on each side of the couch:

This is how the addition of that room looks from the rear. The open portion of the wall will all be french doors/extra glass to provide lots of natural light. From that room to the end of the green in this picture will be decking:

We moved around some stuff while we were there, and Jillian was happy to find a few great big earthworms!

And, Ryan's Dad Jay is here to spend some time with our family and celebrate Easter AND Ryan's 30th birthday this weekend. What fun!

More to come soon, I'm sure! To check out the rest of the pictures (the hallway to the rear is framed now as well as the doors to the girls rooms) CLICK HERE!

Tulip Garden, 2011

2011-04-18T22:51:00.001-04:00

Today we went out to a tulip garden and had a wonderful time taking photos, and having a picnic. The weather was beautiful, and my little photo models were (for the most part) fairly willing to oblige my crazy picture taking. -smile- Here are a few I liked, but there are LOTS of fun ones (including a few outtakes I could not help but keep) to see if you click HERE.

Happy Spring!!!! Just for fun... if you want to see how much the girls have grown since this outing last year, click HERE and HERE!

Holy. Frickin'. Cow.

2011-04-17T14:34:00.001-04:00

Click HERE to see all the photos from today!!!

We were out at the new house on Friday to check the progress and were SO impressed with the rear addition walls/roof being up. Since we've had some delays, we knew some of the crew was going to work over the weekend, but we had no idea they would spend all day yesterday (despite HORRIBLE weather) framing the inside of the master bedroom. When we walked into the house today and the rear of the house had been removed so you could walk through to the addition, I was beyond shocked. It actually took me a good bit of time to get my bearings and understand just how much had been done in the past 48 hours. We are thrilled. It's really starting to look like a 3D model of what was on our paper plans!!! -smile-

Today is a beautiful sunny day and we hung out at the house for a bit and watched as they progressed on the side addition, and then headed for lunch and our first Rita's Ice Cream of the season. What a great day!!!

7 years...

2011-04-16T13:36:00.000-04:00

Here's what we looked like 7 years ago (according to the camera):

And here's what we looked like (according to Jillian):

Either way, it's been a great time so far Ryan! Love you! Happy Anniversary!

So much change in so little time!

2011-04-15T21:52:00.000-04:00

Since the yard is still not to grade, we decided to crawl out the existing rear windows into our future master bedroom. Eventually, there will be a hallway to this room in the space between where those two windows are currently.

Checking out the future space. It looks SO much bigger now that the walls/roof are on! The window Ryan is standing in front of will be in the bed area of the room, and the one across from him will be by the tub/shower in the bathroom.

Here's me, Liv, and 31 week in the belly, Evan -wink- Behind us is the opening where we will have french doors to lead to our rear deck.

Rear view:

It's easier to climb on trusses while they are still on the ground. Haha!

Everybody:

CLICK HERE to see all the photos we took today!

Easter Egg Cartons

2011-04-13T14:18:00.000-04:00

Time to paint some egg cartons for our MOMS Club hunt. I'm not sure who's brilliant idea this is, but if you have a large hunt planned with many ages of kids, here's an AWESOME way to control the number everyone gets... Each kid who participates gives 12 eggs toward the hunt. Then, instead of baskets, you use egg cartons to collect. When your carton is full, you're done! Voila! Everyone gets the same amount!

And, if you still wanted to make it competitive for older kids, you could offer a prize or bonus to the kids who finish first or something...

I'm so happy with this plan because my girls like to be selective on Easter... Hmmm... which egg do I really want?? -wink-

Still moving...

2011-04-12T23:19:00.002-04:00

Construction PHOTO link!
Grandpa Visits, PHOTO link!

Just a few days after my Dad left, the project had evolved to this stage. I'm not 100% sure what's going on over there right now, but I know framing of the walls is pretty soon, so that's exciting! (in these photos, all the black portions of the walls will be underground once we are done...)

Just wanted to share the latest house photos, as well as a few more from our fun with my Dad!

Construction Continues

2011-04-04T20:26:00.000-04:00

To see all the recent construction photos, click HERE!

My Dad wanted to make sure he saw our construction project while it was in progress, so he came back to MD for another visit. It was so nice to have him again just 2 months after he was here last! And, we had the added bonus of him staying with the girls while Ryan and I made a quick trip to NYC for WWP's Annual Gala. We had a great time at that event, and my Dad and the girls had a great time holding down the fort!

So, here's the latest on the house construction:

Our family, standing in the back of our future master bedroom:

Jillian, pulling her weight:

Jilli jumping into the footers where the front porch will be:

Fun!

2011-03-25T22:13:00.000-04:00

My sister just came for a quick visit, and we had lots of fun! Among other things, we made our own ice cream! Thank you so much for sending this awesome gift, Grandma Mary! It works great and is VERY tasty, easy, and fun! (That's Rocky Road in the bowl!)

Thanks for spending your time with us, Marilyn! We had a wonderful visit and miss you already!

I -heart- our family!

2011-03-20T15:45:00.001-04:00

We got dressed up to go out for Sunday brunch, but I forgot to bring my camera. So, a few quick photos in the yard before nap time. Sweet girls! Can you picture me trying to get them to hold a tiny Evan for these photos?! Ahh! The fun we have ahead! :)

Our house... it's happening!

2011-03-19T20:51:00.000-04:00

LINK to all the photos :)

Here it is, our Shangri-La. Isn't it beautiful???

Okay, we've got a ways to go. But, climbing on the dirt pile is fun!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2011-03-16T11:25:00.001-04:00

I'm doing all I can to accessorize our little boy before he can object! Haha! Yup, that's my belly all painted up for the holiday. We went to an amazing birthday party and the VERY gifted artist (LINK) who was spoiling the kids with all kinds of elaborate face painting asked me if I would like a picture for our littlest family member. Aw! This amazing artwork took her a little less than 20 minutes to complete... seriously talented!!! If you're in our area and looking for an awesome way to spice up a birthday party or other event, I'd highly suggest them! www.crystalooneys.com

Jillian kept putting her mouth up to my belly and yelling, "HEY Evan! You're DECORATED!" :)

Happy St. Pat's! Hope you get some corned beef and cabbage for dinner! I've gotta dig out our family recipe for Irish Soda Bread too... if you've never had it, I highly suggest it!!!

Wonder if we'll get any use out of those huge silly green bows between now and next March 17th?! Oh well... when I saw how many different shades of green ribbon I had, I couldn't help it. They kinda remind me of those little feather flapper style hats... -smile-

Liv's First Ballet Class

2011-03-09T11:00:00.000-05:00

Tuesday was Liv's first ballet class and MAN was it cute! Jillian had to wait until she was two to start dance, but a new teacher at the community center offered baby ballet, and we jumped on it! I'm so proud of our little dancer- can't wait to share video at the end of her shakin' her thing! lol

To see all the photos I took today of Liv and her little dancing buddies, click HERE!

FOR SALE! Pass it on!

2011-03-08T09:59:00.002-05:00

FOR SALE!

Please visit our website for more photos and information!

WWW.PORTLANDLANE.COM

You're invited...

2011-03-07T14:27:00.001-05:00

to a pity party, for me.

and, as I'm posting this 'invitation' I'm already over it because I happen to think I'm just about the luckiest most fortunate and blessed girl in the whole darn world.

But.

5 minutes ago, I kinda wanted to lay my head down on the counter and cry.

We're spending all our savings to renovate a house, and not recouping any of it in the sale of the other one because of a market that totally stinks. Which, is a big blow to the ego (especially since we spent so much $ and so many people helped us make this property so beautiful.)
Our realtor for the sale of this house is AMAZING and sweetly just reminded me that the sign is going into the yard today, and typically an hour notice for a showing should be expected. Gah.
I have spent my entire day typing up bullets for all the features we've added in this home and it's kinda making me a little sick to focus on everything about our home that is amazing. -sigh-
Liv spilled goldfish all over the floor. Twice.
Jillian saw me looking a little stressed and called me, "a really nice Mommy, okay?"
Third spill. LIV! Honestly?
Diaper needs to be changed
House with unsupervised children gets messy very quickly.
I wanted to make a PB&J to eat and got up to make it. Opened the fridge and stared for probably 30 seconds before I figured out why I was there.
I'm about 6.5 months pregnant and while I'm thrilled about that, it's making it a little harder for me to go go go the way I want to.
Crap. I forgot to make that PB&J.
Ryan just left for a meeting in DC and is not going to be home for dinner.
I have 1000000 other things to do other than typing on this blog, BUT. In all honesty? I want to look back at how I was feeling during the oh-so-beautiful spring of 2011 and laugh. How quickly all this will pass and how much I'm looking forward to sitting back and enjoying all that's ahead of us!

P.S.- She's gonna KILL me if she reads this, but does it make me a bad person that I feel better because when I talked to our realtor this morning around 11 she told me she got the kids out the door for school, sat down at the computer to work on our house stuff, and hadn't gotten a chance to brush her teeth yet?! Yup. My teeth were brushed. Woo Hoo! One point for Nancy in the game of life. Then again, my kids did basically eat nothing but goldfish for lunch so.... -wink-

Thanks for letting me vent!!!

Photo Wall at the Mall

2011-03-04T16:33:00.000-05:00

There's this wall at our local shopping mall that I really wanted to take pictures in front of. And, since we were already out in Annapolis today (for a fun trip to Build-a-bear!) we took advantage of the opportunity to take a few photos.

Hope you have a great weekend!

Video From Disney On Ice...

2011-03-04T00:08:00.001-05:00

I'm pretty sure I could not love this kid more. Watch how her eyes light up when Cinderella finally comes out. We went with some friends of ours so what she says is: "Look it's... Tessa look! It's Cinderella coming!"

So glad I watched Jillian watching the show instead actually watching the show. lol. She was so happy and the perfect age for this, I think!

Quilt- Done!

2011-03-02T21:16:00.000-05:00

I'm so happy to say I'm done piecing my quilt for Evan and I think it turned out great! Ryan is equally as happy as I am because this means my fabric scraps are cleaned up from around the house, and the breakfast bar no longer is completely monopolized by the sewing machine! HA!

Here's how it looked all put together:

It's actually pretty big!

I had quite a few squares left over once I figured out the size I wanted to make, so I was able to put together a little snuggle size too! Perfect!

Hmmm... I think picking paint colors is next???

Last Night vs. This Morning

2011-03-01T15:45:00.000-05:00

Last night we brought some friends to our house to show them how things looked 'before'. So, here's a shot of us having a picnic on the floor of what will eventually be Jillian's room.

And when we went back this afternoon, the house looked like this. Holy MESS! To see all the other photos of how torn up things are, click HERE.

When we went in at first, Jillian was excited. Then, she went into what she knew was supposed to be her bedroom, (it was the old master bedroom) and saw that "her bathroom and her closet" were missing. She was upset. "Where is my bathroom?! Why is my closet broken???" Oh man, poor thing. We've got some more talking to do I think!

It has begun!!!

2011-02-28T11:16:00.000-05:00

It's been a LONG time in the planning process, but we're finally starting on the construction/renovation of our new home. We're so excited to begin, that we had to get a little jump start on removing this wall before the demo crew gets to have all the fun! Haha!

Getting Ready...

2011-02-25T20:07:00.000-05:00

Jillian is a girlie-girl. She loves to get dressed up and always looks forward to an excuse to do so. For a few events lately, I've curled her hair and now I think I may have created a monster. She loves "hot curls" and thinks they are the perfect accessory to a pretty outfit. I happen to agree.

Funny thing... the other day when we took these photos, Liv walked in pointing to her little ponytail spike saying, "please, please" (really more EEEeeese? EEEeeese?") so I gave that a little curl too. Watch out baby Evan- I sense your sisters are going to spend a loooong time in the bathroom getting ready!

Love Day!

2011-02-18T14:13:00.001-05:00

Our family had a wonderful Valentines Day. The girls and I tried out a new sugar cookie recipe (fluffy soft cookie) with sour cream in the batter. The only downfall is that you have to really work quickly rolling out the dough or it gets sticky quickly! I think it was worth the effort though!

Liv had a pretty good time during the cookie cutting/decorating... she was not very helpful with the decorating process, so we just kept trying to distract her by feeding her cookie after cookie. No exaggeration, she ate about 4 cookies in an hour.

Here's the first bite of a decorated cookie- they were really tasty!

We put together little plates for some neighbors and had a good time spreading the love around. Jillian was a HUGE fan of delivering Christmas Cookies and has anxiously been waiting for Valentines Day ever since (because I told her it was the next time we could make/deliver cookies). Neighbors: I've a feeling you have some green shamrocks headed your way in the near future. She's hooked!

Ryan made dinner for our family- a heart shaped pizza from Papa Johns. Cute.

And we ended the day with pink bath water, and a pink shaving cream heart on the wall:

Our little model:

There were heart shaped PBJ's for lunch too, but I didn't get a photo. Jillian, Ryan and Liv also got little heart candy treats, and the girls and I were spoiled by Ryan with a HUGE bouquet of flowers. I LOVE Valentines Day, and I LOVE LOVE LOVE our family! Click HERE to see all the photos.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-13T22:12:00.002-05:00

Tea Party, anyone?

2011-02-10T11:23:00.001-05:00

This weekend the girls had a chance to go to a tea party. It was fabulous. In honor of the event, I decided to curl both of their hair. Oh My Goodness. Having girls is a lot of fun!

A Visit from Grandpa Randall

2011-01-29T20:52:00.000-05:00

It's been a fun time having Grandpa Randall visit! I'm sure there will be a few more photos between now and when he heads back to Nevada tomorrow, but here are the highlights of the trip thus far.

Just after my Dad got here, we got about 6 inches of snow. That means sledding! Jillian and Grandpa enjoyed this activity, but Liv... in a word? She HATED it. Poor little thing! I think she was a little hungry & tired, and really just didn't understand why someone would want to stuff themselves into a bunch of clothing that completely restricts your movement and hang out in the cold. :) She ended up having a little bit of fun (thanks to some fellow Moms we went with who hoisted her up and down a small part of the hill) but still would have preferred skipping it this year, I think.

All the photos of sledding can be seen here: Sledding

Another thing we've been working on is a dollhouse for the girls. I saw a picture of the perfect dollhouse online, but I could not find it to purchase. So, I sent the idea to my Dad and asked if he could come up with something. He spent hours working on it in NV, and planning how to make this work... then, he brought the pieces here to finish up with Jillian and I. It's a big project, and we're still chipping away at it... I hope to have it done sometime in the next year (haha...) and I'll share photos of the completed product soon.

All the photos of dollhouse building can be seen here: Dollhouse

The next activity I took photos of was making our own play dough. We sat for hours playing with our nice fresh purple blob:

All the photos of play dough can be seen here: Play dough

And finally, tonight we made our own pizza. Jillian has a book called 'Grandpa and Me' where they make pizza and this kind of thing is right up my Dad's alley, so it was the perfect activity. We all enjoyed this yummy dinner! (yes, we made that 'chef hat' for my Dad)

All the photos of pizza making can be seen here: Making Pizza

And that's it! Whew! What fun we've had! I'm so glad you were able to come spend time with us, Dad!

Our little artists

2011-01-26T12:15:00.001-05:00

Jillian's first drawing with everyone in it... Daddy, Mommy, Jillian, Liv & Evan (we decided his name!)

on the bottom. Those circles in our middles are our belly buttons. -smile-

Here we are again. This time Ryan "has one arm and a wiggle prosthetic leg", I have on "a wiggle dress", Jillian "is silly and does not have any hair!" and Liv "loves to be purple". Evan is "really fast and green and likes to run on the grass".

And, finally... Liv's first watercolor. Jillian thinks the top part looks like a "blue-ish, white-ish, brown-ish butterfly". I agree!

A Visit From My Mom!

2011-01-23T21:45:00.000-05:00

My parents had plans to visit us on Dec. 26th for my birthday and a post-Christmas celebration, but due to a horrible snow storm here in MD (read extreme sarcasm: they closed the airport and FREAKED out over 3 inches of snow in Baltimore) they were not able to make it out. So, due to the difficulty of planning another trip around their work schedules my Mom grabbed a flight by herself (about 2 weeks ago) and came to play. What fun we had with her. Our girls are lucky to have such a special place in her heart (I'd know) -smile-

More photos of her visit HERE, and I promise to post more promptly after my Dad's visit this coming week! Things have been BUSY around here!

Oh, and in case you'd like to look at a couple more silly photos, HERE are some of the girls posing at the house the other day when it was WICKED cold outside and Ryan was out of town. Combine those two things and it equals a perfect opportunity to waste a few hours taking photos and amusing Jillian by honoring her request to "take photos with some stuff she likes." Funny girl.

'Tis the Season for LOTS of Photos!

2011-01-01T23:32:00.000-05:00

Here I am again, with a group of links for photos. There's no better way to describe how busy this time of year is! Lots of fun, and lots of photos!

So, here's the group of links:

Nancy's Birthday
Ballet With Daddy
New Years Eve
New Years Day

And here's some highlights from each set.

My birthday:

What a great day we had. Despite some snow fall that ended up keeping my parents on the West coast instead of being here for a visit (big bummer!) we opened gifts, spent time as a family, and went to Melting Pot for dinner. YUM!

Ballet
Since Ryan is on a "staycation" he was able to come watch Jillian at ballet. Check out Liv... I think she's getting ready. Sassy baby.

New Years Eve

We hung out with some local friends and had a great time. We did an early "ball drop" for the girls and got an adorable video of their celebration. I'll share that soon- it's precious. The last photo in this group is Jillian playing with sparklers- fun!

New Years Day

And finally, photos from today. We got the girls dressed up and went out for brunch to start off our 2011. This next year is going to be a crazy one for our family, but we're looking forward to all the changes, and excited for what's in store!

Happy New Year!!!

An Awesome Holiday Tradition Idea!

2010-12-30T22:47:00.000-05:00

I hate to trump my Christmas post with a text only message, but I have to.

Why?

Because I just read about the most awesome idea for a holiday tradition. And, if you know me, you know I'm a sucker for traditions of any kind. I think it's the best ~~forced~~ reminder to do something special with your family during what's sure to be a crazy busy time.

So, tell us Nancy (you beg!) what's the awesome idea??

When you set up your Christmas tree, and pull out all your Christmas books, WRAP them up, and place them under the tree. Then the kid(s) can pull one out each night, open a 'gift' and you can share a special holiday book together.

It's icing on the cake if you can pull out a blanket, lay under the tree and use the light of your decorations to read from.

AWWW!!! We just got all our decorations packed away and I'm already ready to pull them out again!!!

What are your awesome holiday traditions????

Nancy

Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day!

2010-12-29T14:40:00.001-05:00

I know this is a slacker way to share our Christmas, but if you're interested, check out the links below. A pictures worth a thousand words, right? Whew! I just saved myself a lot of typing.

All our Christmas pictures, click HERE

And Christmas Eve in NYC, click HERE

Here's my favorite candid shot of Jillian Christmas morning. We let her bring a present into our bed to open before breakfast. It's a barbie Prince Charming (there's a matching Cinderella too). Needless to say, she's THRILLED with them.

And here's Liv after she opened her 'Princess Baby Belle'. A totally unprompted tongue kiss. Now that's love.

Two more pictures for comparison sake...

Our family last Christmas Eve in front of the big Christmas tree in New York:

And then this year...

Hope everyone is having a great holiday season!!!!

Happy (almost) New Year!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-19T16:47:00.000-05:00

Here's our official holiday note:

Wishing you and yours all the best this holiday season!

We're in the midst of a huge project renovating and adding to a house we purchased about 30 minutes from where we are now. We should have a new address to share with you by mid year! Ryan stays very busy working for Wounded Warrior Project and is constantly traveling. In his spare time, he likes to golf, hunt and have tea parties with the girls. -wink- Jillian is a sassy and smart 3 1/2 year old. She loves to sing, dance, and is already learning to read! Liv is a happy and content 1 year old. She loves to snuggle and suck on her thumb (I know, I know...) I am home with the girls, and finally launched a small photography website! This next year should prove to be even busier than last as we are expecting our third little one in June! Here we go again! As you can see, 2010 has been very good to us!

Best,
The Kules Family

First Dec. Snow '10

2010-12-16T17:06:00.002-05:00

Today was our first "real" snow! It dusted the other day, but for our First Snow Day rules, it has to stick on the grass. Jillian had ballet this morning and it was VERY cold on our way in to the studio (25 degrees!!!) and snowing 45 minutes later when we walked out. Very exciting.

The other day my Grandma Mary sent us the most amazing gift in the mail. It was perfect timing and obviously needed to be the first snow day gift. So, below: Jillian showing off our brand new LLBean awesome all wood sled. It's beautiful and is sure to be a lot of fun!

We wimped out and didn't go outside after nap time to play in the snow (don't worry, there will be PLENTY of other opportunities) but made sure to get a photo with our new toy at least!

Oh what fun it is to ride in a one horse dog open sleigh!

Date Night, just us two?

2010-12-12T20:40:00.000-05:00

Awhile back, Ryan and I decided we needed to get serious and really try to make a date night happen. We've got a lot going on with our individual commitments, and a lot going on with the kids so it's important that we really make an effort to carve out time for the relationship that started it all!

We try to go once a week, but sometimes things get in the way. I'd say we're averaging 2-3 times per month which in my opinion is pretty darn awesome! And, as a bonus, the girls LOVE being home with the awesome sitter we found, so it's a win win situation.

Anyway- here we are, awhile back out for an AWESOME meal.

It's so nice to have a moment out for just the two of us! (Although, you've likely heard (or suspected by now) that as hard as we try we just can't seem to get a kid free evening these days....) hahah...

By that, I mean #3 is with me all the time. We're looking forward to meeting him/her around June 18th!

NEW BABY BLOG: www.kulesfamily3.blogspot.com

What's the hold up??

2010-12-04T15:23:00.001-05:00

I'd love to say it's been awhile since I posted because this is such a busy time of year, and I've just gotten behind. And, I suppose that is partially the reason. The other reason though, is because at the beginning of the week Liv had a seizure and scared the crap out of us. It was the scariest parenting moment Ryan and I have had. I'll spare you all the details, but assure you that in the end all is well. It was a febrile seizure (which is caused by a rapid spike in fever) and she won't have any long term ill effects from it. About an hour after, she was acting normally and seemed to be feeling pretty good.

A few days after the seizure, she broke out head to toe in little red bumps- at least I knew what this was since Jillian had Roseola back in May! Ahh... it was actually a relief to have a diagnosis which explained her high fever. Poor little thing! Boy oh boy, she gave both of us a few gray hairs!

On to happier things... I may try to backtrack and post about some other stuff that has happened over the past weeks, I may not. We will see how much time I get on the computer in the next few days. :)

For now, I'll share this: Liv got her first haircut today! Since Ryan had the honor of trimming Jillian the first time, we kept the tradition and did a little cut here at home before heading out to "Pigtails and Crewcuts" (same place we brought Jilli for her first cut). Since Liv lost all the hair on the sides and back of her head as a baby, but kept the top it had grown out unevenly and was bugging me whenever it was in a ponytail. All fixed now! She was a trooper at the haircut place!

If you're reading this via email, you'll have to visit the blog directly (www.kulesfamily.blogspot.com) to see the video of her trim (I found a silly haircut song to add to this video so if you don't want it to be noisy, mute before you click):

Launching my Photography Site...

2010-11-17T13:20:00.004-05:00

So, here we go! The holiday season is upon us and I thought this would be a good time to make some connections for people who still need family portraits in my area. Wish me luck!

I know many of you are not local or potential clients for me, but I wanted to post about this on here so you can help me out a little bit if you are interested...

There's a couple things you could do to help:

#1- Visit my new photography website (www.nancykulesphotography.com) and check out the latest sessions I've posted. COMMENT!! Give me your feedback!

#2- If you are a facebook user, click on the CONTACT ME tab on my website, and scroll down to the bottom. You should see an application from facebook which will allow you to "LIKE" my "professional service" page.

#3- And finally, if you happen to know anyone in Maryland who could use pictures, I'd love a referral!

Thanks guys!

Nancy

Oh, the things this kid says....

2010-11-12T09:29:00.009-05:00

(photograph courtesy of Jillian, age 3)

I mean to write these down, but I forget. So, crumbs all over the counter, Liv grunting for my attention- I'm ignoring it and typing. Otherwise, I'll forget.

Some recent favorites:

Me: "Jillian- We've got a lot of cleaning to do today. Laundry, mopping the floors, bathrooms..."
Jillian: "Oh, bummer.- Well, we'll be three Cinderella's. And Giselle. It's a Cinderella and Giselle day."

----

Jillian: "Mommy? Can I have two pieces of toast?"

Me: "If you finish the first one, I'd be happy to make you another."

Jillian: "Oh, but I really wanted a CLOSED FACE."

Me: "What does that mean?"

Jillian: (Gesturing with her hands pressed together, and then wide open) "You know, not an OPEN FACED sandwich... CLOSED."

----

Me: "Liv, would you like cereal for breakfast?"

Liv: (Shakes her head) and says, "YEAH, YEAH, YEAH"

Jillian" "Mommy, did you hear her? She exclaimed, Yeah!"

----

Me: "Do you remember why we are shopping for snacks?"

Jillian: "We're helping to send treats to the military people who are deployed"

Me: "That's right, Jillian! Good remembering!"

Jillian: "When they come back home to their families, we don't want them to have to ask for snacks right away."

----

Jillian: (Serving me food from her play kitchen) "Here is your pizza with mushrooms and peppers and a donut if you eat all your food."

Me: (Pretend to gobble/drink everything) "Mmmm! Yum Jillian, thanks!"

Jillian: "You forgot to eat the donut!"

Me: "Oh, oops! (When I reach for it to eat it, it accidentally falls on the ground)

Jillian: "OH NO! Mommy! All the frosting almost fell off! But... don't worry, there is still a lot for you to eat" (and then in a stage whisper she adds) "it's really all still on there because it's not real food Mommy, don't worry"

----

Overhearing Jillian talking to Liv-

Jillian: "Liv, please! Stop making that horrible noise. Mommy is very busy right now and we don't have time for your nonsense."

----

Jillian: "Let's call Grandma Trisha on the phone so I can tell her the new word I learned.

Me: "What word Jillian?"

Jillian: "Remember- something really ridiculous? Ludicrous!"

----

Jillian: (In a very sweet voice) "Mommy, look outside... the rain is falling, like leaves from a tree."

Me: "Wow, Jillian! That was beautiful! It sounded like a poem, or a song. Do you want to say anything else about the rain?"

Jillian: "Not really."

----

And, to round out my child and document that while she's a very chatty vocabulary interested child, she will only be turning 3 1/2 years old this month:

Jillian-isms:

Hotel= HOTOWEL

Elevator= ELEGATOR

Napkin= NAPKIM

Scrabble= SCRIBBLE

Silver= SLIVLER

Oh Jilli, we love you!

P.S.- Wondering about the photo at the top? For a special treat, Jillian got to take my little point and shoot camera to nap time with her. I think we have a future photographer on our hands. -wink- To check out the world through Jillian's eyes, click HERE.

Is there a better season than this???

2010-11-08T14:55:00.002-05:00

Liv has not been 100% lately (started with a fever, now maybe teeth?) so I'm trying SO HARD to focus on how much fun we are having when she is not being cling-a-rific. It's challenging at times to say the least. But, alas... here are some finer moments I've captured over the past few days.

Jillian swinging in our yard. If I could bottle that happy, we'd be millionaires:

We found the BIGGEST leaf when we were walking our neighborhood on a "leaf hunt"! So awesome:

I saw a photo similar to this on a blog and had to recreate. Hence, the above mentioned leaf hunt... we had to find the perfect red leaf:

Sweet girls... It's starting to really get chilly here all of a sudden! So I'm trying to snap some photos outside before their cute outfits are covered in jackets!

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T09:27:00.006-04:00

This year, Jillian is a purple witch, and Liv is a black cat. Jillian wanted to pick her own costume this year, but I'm happy she is still little enough for me urge her towards the choice I would have made on my own in order to have the girls coordinate :) We borrowed the witch outfit from a friend (thanks, Tessa!), but I made the cat for Liv. It's SO snuggly and huggable! I love the way she feels in it!

Hope you have a Happy Halloween!!!! More photos of Trick-or-Treating soon!

To see all the photos of the girls in their costumes, click HERE!!!
And, to see photos from our pumpkin carving, click HERE!!!

Liv-a-licious

2010-10-28T15:11:00.001-04:00

I know, I know... two photos of just Liv in a row. More Jillian soon... Thanks to Ashley for the awesome accessories ;)

Boo-tiful

2010-10-27T21:00:00.003-04:00

Only a few more days until Halloween! Here's a pic from our latest pumpkin patch trip!

I must confess

2010-10-23T18:47:00.000-04:00

There's plenty of things that I'm not good at... To name a few: math, having a sense of direction, and keeping up with our laundry.

The math I can't do much about, the sense of direction I believe I was born without, but the laundry? Can I blame that on genetics? Sadly, I think not.

But, if I could go to a hypnotist and have them convince me that I LOVE doing laundry (of course, it's not really the 'doing' I despise, mostly just the hanging of items) I would be thrilled.

So, here's our house on laundry day (in other words, someone is out of underwear). The girls love sorting everything with me, Peanut loves to nap in the sun on top of piles waiting to get in the washer, and I try to find the silver lining in spending a day at the house with the girls hanging out and washing/folding/hanging, washing/folding/hanging...... on and on.

Okay- so now you know three of my shortcomings. Care to share yours?!?

A couple random photos...

2010-10-22T18:36:00.002-04:00

The other day we had "Classroom Day" for our MOMS Club, and were learning about a variety of things including the color silver. Of course I had to pull out these silver boots I found over the summer at Children's Place for $4. Awesome deal, and although they are a little big for Liv, she didn't seem to mind. One of the other Moms commented that she was ready for a KISS concert. Rock on!

I took this photo of Jillian at her request. Here's the conversation:

Jillian: "Mommy, take my picture outside with this sweet baby."

Me: "Sure babe, but go wash your face first- you're a mess."

Jillian: "Oh, that's okay Mommy. You'll still like the picture even if my face is messy. I'll look right at the camera and smile."

Me: "Okay silly face."

And, that's how you end up with a cute photo of Jillian, with a little extra on her chin...

Soaking in the moment...

2010-10-16T20:11:00.004-04:00

I realize I should be posting this along side an adorable photo of our girls playing in the bathtub, or wrapped up in their towels but I don't have a super recent one. Tonight when I was thinking about it, I decided against running for my camera and opted instead to soak in the moment (and then document it here in my 'journal' so I hopefully don't forget about it anytime soon.

Every night after bath time, my heart practically bursts I'm so in love with our kids. I'm not sure if it's because they smell like this:

(it certainly can't hurt!) ;)

or if it's because of the way their eyelashes stick together when they're wet, and their perfect sweet little bodies glisten with water, or the belly laughs either girl will give me when I smoosh her face/belly with a towel, or how little I always think they look in pajamas... I guess a combo of all those things, and many more.

In short, I love kids fresh out of the bath. So. So. Much.

Anyone else share this feeling???

Craft Time

2010-10-14T08:37:00.003-04:00

Given the chance, Jillian would do "craft time" for all her free time. Particularly, she loves scissors. Cutting anything. We have a scrap bag of paper with a pair of little scissors in it, and I give her a cookie sheet for her to snip tiny pieces off onto. When it's time to clean up, she decides which ones are big enough to "still be cutting pieces" (those go in the bag) and "little enough to be trash" (those go on the cookie sheet). This can consume hours of her time, and I've gotta say, is pretty darn easy for me! It's awesome. I used to set her up with other paper, glue, & markers along with the scissors until I realized they were just contributing to the mess, and not the end result. So, just scissors and paper. Cut cut cut cut.....

Here we are at a MOMS Club event. We have such a great group of ladies to spend our free time with. We're exploring different crafts at our 'Fall Festival' and my friend Karen was nice enough to get a candid shot of me with the girls. As much as I like posed photos, it's so nice to have a few pics of me interacting with the girls too!

Thanks, Karen!

I LOVE this season!

2010-10-08T15:27:00.002-04:00

To see all the photos from this series, click HERE!

I made these little pillowcase dresses (tunic length this time) for the girls the other day during nap time with the help of my friend Ashley... they are super easy! If you have a little girl, and you'd like info on how to make one, let me know! It only takes about 30 minutes!!!

Happy Fall! I was texting with my friend Tiffany earlier in Chicago, and there, the leaves are all changed. Here however, we've still got about 2 weeks before the colors go crazy. So, for now we had to use silk flowers for props. :)

Enjoy your day!

Nancy

P.S.- Two posts in two days- oh la la!

Have you missed us?!?

2010-10-06T10:24:00.010-04:00

It's been nearly a month since I posted. I can't believe it. I toyed with the idea of breaking these posts up into a bunch of different ones but in the end I decided- if reading this blog post is overwhelming to you, imagine living through our last month! We are exhausted and SOOOooo happy we did all this fun stuff. We're so lucky!

Before I share a few photos and stories, I'll add that I'm in the process of putting the rest of the photos from these events up on our Shutterfly share site so if you want to check more photos that are not on the blog, click HERE.

Anyway, here we go:

We started our trip to the west coast by flying into San Diego. Ryan's parents have a place there so we thought it would be fun to see it, and visit with them a little. It took a little extra planning to make it work, but we did! The only downside was the rental car company charging us $$ for picking up the car in San Diego and returning it at LAX. What a racket! lol, oh well!

Anyway- here's Ryan and his Dad Jay with Liv. We had a bit of a drive ahead of us when we left here, and it was already late on the East coast so Canice helped out by giving the girls a bath and getting them in their PJ's.

Canice and a fresh clean Jillian:

The drive I mentioned was from San Diego to Anaheim. We stayed in a hotel near Disneyland, and brought the girls for their first taste of the happiest place on earth the next morning!

This is one of two photos I got of the girls together. Liv was all about posing for the camera, Jillian. was. not.

What a ham! (Her shirt says, "Liv loves Mickey Mouse")

For Liv's birthday, my parents got her breakfast with the Disney Characters. It was a blast. Liv ate nearly her weight in grapes, and both girls really liked all the visitors we had at the table.

After breakfast, we went on a few rides:

I'll take one cream, one sugar, and one sweet baby please!

Jillian on Dumbo:

This is how we managed two tired kids in one single stroller:

And the highlight of the Disney trip? Meeting the princesses. You wait about an hour in a line of anxious little girls to meet three princesses one on one. They won't tell you which princesses are back there until you are at the front of the line because they change every few hours. Let me tell you how much I was hoping Cinderella was on when it was our turn.

When we got to the front of the line, I almost felt nervous to ask. When I did the girl said, "Um... Mulan, Tiana, and.... Cinderella." Jillian and I felt the same way at that moment. She was thrilled to be meeting her favorite princess, I was thrilled not to be launching our "search for Cinderella" across the acres of Dinsneyland. haha!

The first princess we met was Tiana. Jillian was NERVOUS. She would not hug her, or talk to her. She kept saying, "Mommy, you do it!" to me. Poor little thing. In the end, she would stand for this family photo and she did ask Tiana if she, "saw Louie play the trumpet" so that was nice. The best part of our princess meet and greet was the special attention our family got from the people who worked there. I don't know if it was Ryan, or Jillian (or a combination of the two) but the hostess girl stopped letting other people in, and let Jillian have all three princesses to herself. She even took my camera and took photos for us. It was awesome. And, perfect since Jillian was feeling shy and really needed that extra time to warm up to this whole idea.

It started off slow, but Jillian had TONS to say to Cinderella. I think the sweet girl caught about 1/4 of what she was saying but my favorite part of the conversation was: "I have glass slippers that I wear to dress up when I get married!" "You do?" "Yup. They are just like yours and they have a picture on them!" "Oh, what's the picture?" Then Jillian looks at her like she must have just fallen off the moon or something and says with disbelief and a small degree of sassy disgust: "YOU." It was so funny. I teased the girl that she really needed to up her game when it came to recognizing Cinderella merchandise. -smile-

Deep in conversation:

Discussing the prince:

Finally comfortable enough to let Cinderella touch her:

She was a pro by the time we got over to Mulan. Ryan and I felt a little bad when Mulan asked, "Who is your favorite princess?" and Jillian said, "Oh, Cinderella is the best." lol, oh well.

After Disney, we drove to the Long Beach area. This was the original purpose of our trip- My sister Marilyn and Neal invited both families to get together at a beach house there for the weekend. It was such a treat because I had never met Neal's little sister Kiana, or his Dad Carl. We had a great time with everyone!

Here's a pretty good photo we got of my family while we were there-

Ryan, Me, Jillian, Marilyn, Neal, Liv (not looking), my Mom, Trisha and Dad, Randall

I took a few photos of Marilyn and Neal, livin' the life:

Marilyn and I down by the water:

While we were all in the beach house, we did a fair amount of cooking. My Mom always cooked great meals while we were growing up, and my Dad really started to enjoy whipping up a fabulous meal when we were in college so it was nice to find out that Kiana and Carl are great cooks as well! We had a sushi night one evening, and it was delicious!

Kiana, me and Carl cooking:

Kiana and my Mom making a cake:

It was such a great beach get away, but it does not stop there- Ryan and I decided since we never went on a honeymoon, we were already on the west coast, AND my parents were more than willing to take the girls from California back to Nevada with them and babysit that we may as well take advantage of the situation and go to.....

HAWAII! (Kauai to be specific)

We had an amazing time- just the two of us. Very relaxing, fun and we felt spoiled rotten. After our visit we flew back to LAX together, and then Ryan headed home back to work while I went to Vegas for a couple days and then returned home with the girls.

The girls enjoyed their chance to visit with my parents in Vegas while Ryan and I were away. They had a wonderful time and, "ate ice cream every day". It's true. They really did. -smile- I'm sure my parents have more photos from this visit, but I snapped just a couple while I was there....

And, that brings us back home! Here's few more little things, and then I'll be (almost) all caught up...

The other day Jillian went outside (fully clothed) to play in the yard. She asked if she could fill her water table with the hose, and upon hearing yes, stripped (down to her underwear) and went at it. After playing for a little while, she decided to use the hose to fill a small bucket, and then transfer that water across the yard into the table. I placed the hose in the big red bucket so it would not be running all over the patio while she went back and forth. When the bucket started to fill, Jillian came inside to talk to me again (now naked) and said, "OH MOMMY! Thank you for my new swimming pool! Can I get in?!" Of course.

Here's the debut use of the little pumpkin dresses I made. We took a trip to the pumpkin patch with our friends Sarah, Natalie, Ashley and Joe. There are lots of cute photos from this trip... Check Shutterfly to see them all.

Go RAVENS! We could not help but buy this little cheer outfit for Jillian. She LOVES to watch football with Ryan and has anxiously been awaiting the start of the season.

And finally- a photo of Liv from this morning. I could eat her. She's such a sweet girl.

That's it!!! Now you're all caught up on the happenings in the Kules house!

More to come soon, I'm sure!!!

Nancy

Dentist & Melting Pot

2010-09-08T09:57:00.003-04:00

We're slowly coming around to the fact that Jillian has high standards. I wonder if this kid came with some kind of trust fund we don't know about?!

The other day we all had a check up at the dentist. Things went well, and that evening we said to Jilli: "Since our whole family did such a good job at the dentist, I think we should go out for a special dinner! Where do you want to go, Jillian?"

Insert a typical kid answer here. Right? Wrong.

Jillian: "Oh, great! We should go to Melting Pot."

Of course we will, sweet girl.

So, who would argue with such an awesome suggestion because, to be honest, Ryan and I would rather overstuff ourselves with cheese/meat/chocolate than chicken nuggets anyway. HAHA!

So, here we are:

And, while you might not think Melting Pot is a great place to bring a three year old and a one year old, it's actually perfect! Lots of selections, everything is finger food sized, and they will bring you more of any 'dippers' you would like so that means unlimited bread, veggies, fruit... it's awesome (as long as you start your dinner by 5pm!) haha!

Sass. A. Frass.

2010-09-03T09:12:00.003-04:00

The other day, I decided I would like to make dresses for the girls for the upcoming fall season. Wouldn't simple little matching dresses be oh-so-cute?

So, after taking the girls swimming at the pool, they both went down for a nice long nap and I whipped out my sewing machine and created this:

Not too bad if I say so myself! I was SO excited to show Jillian- I just knew she would love her "pumpkin princess dress" I had made for her.

Here's the conversation:

Me: "Guess what Jilli- I made you something"

Jillian: "Ooooo Mommy! What?"

Me: "It's a............ pumpkin princess dress!" (showing her with dramatic excitement)

Jillian: "Oh. (totally unimpressed) Is that all?"

Me: "What?! This is super special Jillian! Mommy made this for you with her sewing machine. Remember? This is the fabric we picked out together the other day?"

Jillian: "Yeah. I remember."

Me: "Well, aren't you excited about it?"

Jillian: "Actually, not really. I think I like it better when other people make dresses for me. Not Mommy."

She's SOooo sweet.

Fast forward a couple of days and I'm sitting here next to Jillian with my laptop typing up this post while she eats her breakfast (in fact, right now she's sitting in my lap reading all the "Jillian's" that I type.)

Anyway- here's what happens now:

Jillian: "Oooo Mommy- those are pictures of my BEAUTIFUL pumpkin dress you made just for me!"

Me: "That's right baby."

Jillian: "Do you know what? I so love that dress now. Did you know that?"

Me: "Well that's nice to hear Jilli, I didn't know that."

Jillian: "Yeah. I do. That makes you feel so glad."

Goodness gracious. This kid.

I was telling my sister I was going to write a whole post about all the sassy things Jillian is saying, but I think I'll save the rest of the list until later.

As Jillian put it- "You type too many Jillian's"

Time to clean up breakfast!

:) Nancy

Liv's First Birthday Party

2010-08-22T22:27:00.005-04:00

Today was Liv's first birthday party!

Her theme was yellow, and we did it up right!! (perhaps a little overboard, but hey- you only turn one once!!!) We had about 50 yellow balloons in the house, and served all kinds of yellow food such as bananas, yellow rice, mangos, corn, a mango salsa, corn & potato chips, vanilla pudding, lemon jello, white chocolate dipped pretzels (dyed yellow) with sprinkles, cool yellow pear/apples, pineapple, sliced yellow bell pepper & popcorn. I may be missing something... :) We also breaded our own chicken nuggets and cut up french fries to cook in the big turkey fryer in the yard. They turned out great and there was plenty of food for everyone!

The house was also decorated with three different kinds of yellow flowers, pretty paper pendants, yellow bandanas, and yellow construction hats and pom poms as part of our party favors.

For our guests, we made funfetti cupcakes (with a little yellow added) and big swirls of yellow frosting on top. Then, we rolled the frosting in a little bit of cornflake crumbs and added a yellow umbrella on the top of each one. They were so sweet. For Liv, she had a GIANT cupcake to dig into. It was huge- took two whole boxes of cake mix to make! To say she loved it, would be an understatement. As soon as we took the candle off the top, she dove face first into the cake and ate a huge mouthful of frosting! Haha! It was very cute.

If it weren't for the visitors we have in town (Heidi, Matt & Savannah), and some local friends (Nat, Rene, Ash & Joe) there's no way we could have gotten everything done! THANK YOU GUYS for all your help- you're amazing!

Liv (aka, Jillian) had lots of fun opening presents, and was EXHAUSTED when she finally got to her crib for a nap.

We are so lucky to have so many local friends (about 70 people were here!) to share our special celebrations with- it was a great day!

Click HERE to see all our photos from today- there are lots, including a bunch more of Liv devouring her cake- she's so funny!

Ocean City Weekend

2010-08-16T21:39:00.008-04:00

To see all our photos from the beach, click HERE!

On Saturday afternoon, Ryan, the girls and I headed to Ocean City for two nights. We had not been out there yet, so we were anxious to check it out since it's only about 2.5 hours from our house.

It was great!

Here is the whole gang on the beach:

Ryan and Jillian watching the waves:

We forgot the beach toys, but it didn't matter. Jillian could just play in the sand for hours.

Our very own little mermaid:

Sweet Daddy:

Crazy, happy girl:

My favorite people:

Have I mentioned how much I love this little face?:

Like father like daughter?! Just kidding!:

And, she's out:

Shhhhh!!!

Since Liv fell asleep on Ryan right after she got out of her bath, and I didn't want to wake her up to put on a diaper, we decided to play it safe and she took a much needed two hour nap in the bathtub. HA!

We really enjoyed ourselves, and can't wait for another chance to go back!

A Yellow Birthday Party

2010-08-13T12:58:00.002-04:00

Liv's birthday is coming up... it's only 7 days away and her party theme is yellow! So... my parents sent her a little box, and in it was this cute little headband my Mom crocheted. Awww!!!

Our sweet girl LOVES coloring

2010-08-10T21:36:00.002-04:00

Recently, I was talking to Jillian about coloring nicely. I told her to think about where she was putting the colors, and what color things should really be. Well, she has taken to the idea of being more precise, but she has informed me that coloring "does not need to be how things really are unless you like them that way." So true Jillian, so true. She further pointed out that "at restaurants you can only use blue, red, yellow or green ANYWAY Mommy." You got me again, kid. -smile-

So, when she is drawing pictures, her favorite "silly thing to draw" is a blue sunshine. I'll have to take a picture and post it. Cute, cute.

Anyway- Here she is. Can you feel her focus?!

I'm sharing the photo below because of two reasons. First, holy legs. Does she look incredibly long to you? I just measured her and she's grown about a half an inch since her birthday which is not a ton, but it does explain why she is now running into the doorknob every time she goes into her room.

Second, I'm loving Jillian at this age because I can really tap into my knowledge from my days as a preschool/kindergarten teacher. Note the pictures taped on the wall? Perfect example of "modeling". Jillian and I sat down at a table with the same supplies. I started making a house/tree/clouds without saying anything to her about it. She then decided to make the picture on the left without any prompting. Awww.... Love it. (In all fairness, she did ask me if I could cut a "bubble green thing for her tree" for her, and I did. I also helped a little bit with the grass, but still- pretty cool, right?) Oh, and while I'm having a proud Mommy moment, I'll close this little brag paragraph by sharing the fact that Jillian can read 30+ words now, and is picking up more and more all the time. She's super awesome. Love her. Okay, I'm done.

See the pony on the opposite page all colored in? Go Jilli!

And, if you get tired of coloring, take a break!

A Tip from Nancy

2010-07-28T08:24:00.002-04:00

You're on your way to the beach... Hmm. What to pack... Sunscreen? Check. Towels? Check. Sand toys? Got em. I've got water, food, bathing suits, an umbrella, blanket... what am I forgetting?

Oh. Rain Boots.

How silly of me!

A few weeks ago we were getting ready to go to the beach and Jillian strutted out in this get up. Boy oh boy! We had just gotten these boots (which are Crocs brand and although they cost way too much $, I'd say they were worth it because they are a solid pink so they match a lot more stuff, AND they are about 2lbs lighter than any other rain boot I've seen, so I think they are easy for her to wear, and quite comfy.) Anyway- forgive me, I'm totally rationalizing a splurge purchase!

Anyway- she looked SO darn cute that I caved and told her she could wear them to the beach.

I had NO IDEA at the time what a GREAT idea it was! Seriously. Amazing.

Zero sand under her feet while we hiked to the water. Zero whining that the sand was hot, and zero stopping for her to "empty her flip flops" only to stand back up and look completely frustrated with the whole situation.

So, you might have thought I was teasing, but I'm not. I'll do my best to never go to the beach without rain boots again!

Oh, and french braids are a must as well:

(That cute little tush is pretty priceless too)

Unrelated to this post, I've been told I'm a bit of a blog slacker lately. I know. I take pictures like the above series, and I mean to put the story on here, but alas, there's only so many hours in the day. I hope you'll give me some slack though, and rest assured once Liv turns one (Aug. 20th? How could that BE?) I'll stop the weekly updates on her blog (link), and have a little more time for the family blog.

:) Nancy

Super STAR!!!

2010-07-12T21:07:00.001-04:00

I walked around the corner the other day, and L@@K what Liv was doing:

-SMILE!- Hope you are having a great day!

Nancy

P.S.- Thanks Mar!

Have a great weekend!

2010-07-02T16:44:00.003-04:00

Father's Day, and news story...

2010-06-20T21:06:00.007-04:00

Happy Father's Day!

If you're interested, you can click HERE (link) to see a CBS News Piece about Father's Day where Ryan and the girls are featured! The link won't bring you directly to the piece, but if you look off to the right for the 'recommended stories', you'll see a picture of Jillian and Ryan you can click on!

This aired on Sunday (Father's Day) evening news- Jillian thinks she is a super star! ;)

Aside from celebrating our celebrity TV status (haha!) we enjoyed a fun weekend at home. Yesterday Ryan installed a new garbage disposal, and today he cleaned up the yards and mowed the front and the back... I'd say he more than earned the photo book Liv gave him, the card from the girls, and our fun family dinner at TPC Potomac golf course! :)

We had a wonderful day and are so thankful, (everyday) to have Ryan here being the wonderful husband and father he is!

Here are a few photos after dinner tonight... Due to running into another family with a 3 year old, Jillian was NOT into taking pictures... she just wanted to "go play a little bit first". Oh well...

We got a couple photos regardless, and the other mom was nice enough to snap a family shot too... :) Always a plus!

Happy Father's Day!

My heart be still....

2010-06-19T12:17:00.002-04:00

As you may or may not know, Ryan and I are in the process of planning a move (in about 10 months) to a city about 30 minutes from where we live now. We'll be doing some additions and renovations on the house there, and we've recently been discussing the kitchen...

Specifically, whether or not we need a double sink there.

Although I thought it was a MUST HAVE when we designed the kitchen here, we don't really use it for as much as I thought we would. Further, the existing window at the new house is in such a place that a double sink would have to be slightly off center to work. Hmm... so, it looks like we're leaning toward a nice big/deep single bowl...

But then, this happened:

Aw man, now I don't know what to do!

I suppose at the very least, we'll have to have a few more big sister/ little sister sink moments while we're here, 'cause this is just too cute!

Liv was pretty excited to have her big sis there to play with her...

And Jillian liked it quite a bit too!

Hope you're having a nice Father's Day weekend!

We've been busy!

2010-06-06T22:14:00.005-04:00

I know it's been awhile since I've posted on here- we've been busy and I feel like I barely have time to sort and edit photos, let alone post any here!

Anyway- I'm thankful for how busy we've been... it's all good stuff!

Hope everything is going well for everyone 'out there' :)

Our family went to a party today, and while I did coordinate the girls in red and white (it's just too much fun having two girls!) I didn't know just how perfect it would be for the cowgirl hats supplied at the party:

Ham:

Who needs a horse?

Looking for a horse to feed:

Found it! And, it ate an entire carrot in one big bite!

CLICK HERE (link) FOR MORE PHOTOS FROM TODAY!

Ryan's Home!

2010-05-31T15:36:00.007-04:00

Today the girls and I went to Andrews Air Force Base to welcome Ryan as he returned home from his trip overseas. I am so glad we were able to do this for multiple reasons. First, Ryan spent the last week + traveling with about 40 other people, and it was fun for me to get to meet them too. Second, the last time we were at Andrews was when Ryan's parents and I flew home with Ryan from Germany to begin his treatment at Walter Reed. It's fair to say this trip was a little different!!! And finally, along the same vein as the above reason, Ryan and I never really got to experience him coming home from Iraq with the rest of the battalion. So, for us, this was a mini version of the redeployment we never really had. All those things aside, the girls and I are just happy to have him back home with us! We missed him! We're hoping some people from the trip will share more photos with us, but for now, you can see all the pics we have on THIS LINK. The outline below should help to make sense of all the pics...

Ryan's trip:

Day 1- Saturday 5/22

Arrived in Wichita, KS and hung out with some friends from Ft. Riley (Timmy & Corey!) and met up with some of the other people who would be on the Coaches Tour.

Days 2 & 3- Sunday 5/23 & Monday 5/24

Gathered gear for Iraq, prepped to leave- 9 hour flight to Ramstein Germany on a KC-135. Arrived in Germany at 7am, unloaded gear and give away items (Under Armour stuff, and college football souvenirs) and went to the hotel. Went to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center (where Ryan was treated in Nov. 2005) so the coaches could do an autograph session and pass out stuff. Dinner (including schnitzel and other authentic German food) and off to bed!

Day 4- Tuesday 5/25

Plane to Bahrain- 5 hours on the KC-135. Autograph session at the PX.

Day 5- Wednesday 5/26

C2-COD plane to the USS Eisenhower (an aircraft carrier off the coast on Oman). Landed (de-acceleration from 135mph-0mph in 2 SECONDS!) Lunch hosted by the Navy personnel, watched jets (F-18's) take off and land from the flight line. Tour of the bridge of the ship (sat in the Captain's chair!), autographs in the hanger bay, passed out gear... Slept in a 2 man state room in a bunk bed!

Day 6- Thursday 5/27

Watched the Eisenhower and Destroyer be resupplied at sea. Mail, produce, fuel, necessary equipment transferred aboard via helicopter and zip line. Watched flight more flight operations from just below the bridge, lunch and departure from the carrier (3 G's!!!- Acceleration from 0-170mph in 3 seconds!) 2 hours back to Bahrain. Waited for KC-135 from Turkey and then loaded and left for Kuwait. Spent the night in trailers very similar to the ones Ryan stayed in when he was deployed to Iraq).

Day 7- Friday 5/28

7am flight delayed until noon. C-130 to Balad, Iraq. Meet and greet at a support unit, lunch, autographs, and a flag football team with the troops coached by the college coaches. Tour of the flight line and saw an F-16 and Predator Unmanned Arial Vehicle. Slept in decent conditions- a 6 man room with running water.

Day 8- Saturday 5/29

Tour of the Air Force Theatre Hospital in Balad, Iraq. Spoke with medical staff and handed out WWP/Under Armour backpacks to wounded Service Members. Tour of the MEDEVAC flight line. C-130 back to Kuwait. Upon departure, all of the coaches, coaches tour staff and flight crew lined up bordering the entry of the plane and saluted Ryan as he left Iraq for the second time- much different than his first departure!!!! In Kuwait, more autographs and flag football- bedtime in the same trailers as Thursday.

Day 9- Sunday 5/30

Morning flight (KC-135) originally intended for the Azores, but due to weather landed 7 hours later in Rota, Spain instead. In Rota, stayed in a Navy Hotel (very nice!) and went to dinner off base at a restaurant right by the Atlantic Ocean. Walked around on the beach...

Day 10- Monday, 5/31

8 hour KC-135 flight to Andrews Air Force Base. (This base is only about a 20 minute drive from our house). Nancy, Jillian & Liv were able to meet Ryan plane side (he was the first one off the plane!) and greet him with lots of hugs and kisses!

It was a great trip!!!

Finally, we would be remiss not to add that the occasion of Ryan safely returning home on Memorial Day from this trip to Iraq is especially poignant... our thoughts are with the loved ones of Mills & Hasse as well as with our good friend Dena and all those missing our dear friend Rob.

To all the families of service members who have paid the ultimate price, we appreciate the sacrifice they and you have made in service to our country.

2010 Coaches Tour

2010-05-27T10:17:00.003-04:00

So. Right now, Ryan's on a week long trip to Iraq and surrounding areas. He is traveling with the 2010 Coaches Tour, and if you click the following links, you can read about the impression the trip has made on Harvard Coach Tim Murphy , and Illinois Coach, Ron Zook. They are adding more articles from a few other coaches too, so check back on that site over the next few days if you are interested. Ryan's having a good time so far, and I'm sure he will have lots of stories and pictures to share when he returns home! If you know anyone stationed near Baghdad, tell them to keep an eye out for Ryan tomorrow or the next day!

Nancy

We've been parents for 3 (THREE?!) Years!!!

2010-05-16T16:42:00.002-04:00

More to come, but here's my favorite from Jillian's little birthday celebration. We love this kid.

Happy Birthday Jillian!

Happy, on Mother's Day!

2010-05-09T16:31:00.004-04:00

I'm pretty darn glad this guy is my husband because aside from being my best friend, and a great guy, he is the other half of our beautiful children, and he's an amazing father too. What more can a girl ask for?

Reason #1 I'm the luckiest girl in the world this Mother's Day?

And, reason #2?

I'm soaking it all in, and 99% of the time, I'm having an absolute blast. Aside the days of endless fever and doing laundry, this Mom thing is really amazing. ;) I'm doing exactly what I wanted to be doing right now, and I feel so fortunate!

Our happy family- makes me so proud to look at this photo!

To sum up how I feel with one photo?

Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful Mom's I know! Particularly my own sweet Mom who was and is such a wonderful example to me of how to be a Mom. Love you, Mommy!

To see more Mother's Day pics, click HERE!

Oh, I have to document this so I won't forget... This morning we snuggled in bed and read books for a little while before getting ready to go to the golf course for brunch. Ryan and the girls picked out a photo backdrop for me for Mother's Day- it's a big stand with a black muslim drop, and a white one too. I can't wait to really get into using it- I'll post some pics of that soon!

The golf course brunch was amazing. I was able to choose from make your own omelets, waffles with fresh fruit, shrimp and grits, bagels & lox/cream cheese, eggs benedict, sushi, sausage/bacon/potatoes, coffee/tea and an extensive dessert bar. Sounds amazing, right?

Well, I failed to mention the rack of lamb, prime rib, and grilled in front of you lobster, and sword fish too. Seriously? At BRUNCH??!!! I was THRILLED. The sword fish was the best I have ever had. Ryan and I WAY over ate, and it was totally worth it! Thanks for the great brunch babe! It was fantastic!

Diagnosis... Roseola

2010-05-02T20:42:00.002-04:00

As I mentioned in the post prior to this, Jillian was sick for nearly a week. She started last Sunday with a high fever, and didn't shake it until the middle of the night on Thursday. It was scary. We went to the doctor a couple of times, but there was no explanation for what she had. Until.... about 30 hours after her fever broke, and she was suddenly covered with tiny red dots. From head to toe. They don't hurt, itch or bother her at all but man does it look awful! You may have to click on the above photo to make it larger if you can't see her rash, but especially in the one marked shoulders- look at her neck and cheek... poor thing!

And, even though she looks a little rough around the edges right now, I am so SO happy to have a diagnosis for what was wrong! That's a huge sigh of relief for me!

Now, cross your fingers for us that Liv didn't pick it up!!!!

Parent of the Year

2010-05-01T15:38:00.003-04:00

Each night when Jillian brushes her teeth, she does it herself and then me or Ryan check them. Sometimes she even calls me, "Dentist Mommy" and I have her lay in my lap so I can get a really good look. (Side note... at very nearly 3, she's finally beginning to break her 2 year molars!).

Anyway... had to share this exchange between sweet Jillian and dentist Mommy last night:

Me: "Okay little girl, do you have an appointment with the dentist?"

Jillian: "Yes, I do!"

Me: "Climb on up so I can check you out."

Me: "Now, what have you been eating, little girl?"

Jillian: "Um... Regular cinnamon rolls, strawberry soda, candy, ice cream treat, apple cinnamon rolls..."

Me (to Ryan): "Oh. Wow. We Are Awesome."

I truly felt like an amazing mother because this list of items had indeed been ingested by my child all in the same day. Hey- she was sick for nearly 6 days and yesterday was the first day she was feeling better. I really wanted to make sure we tested out her tummy and digestion abilities right off the bat.

Really, it was the only responsible thing to do.

Happy 29th Birthday Ryan!

2010-04-26T22:05:00.002-04:00

Friday was Ryan's 29th Birthday... goodness we love this guy! Ryan had to work so after he got some things done, we took a little present break in the morning:

And a little bit of time for tickles:

And some time for snuggles too:

We're such a happy family! (and while the presents were great, I personally think Ryan liked the tickles and snuggles just as much.) Darn... coulda saved some cash! ;)

After presents, we took a little road trip. An hour each direction for a very special lunch of Ryan's choosing:

Yes. I said an HOUR in each direction. For. Fast. Food. (not so fast...) ;) I love you Ryan!

After lunch we went go cart racing- Jillian loves this, and Ryan does too:

And finally, we put the kids to bed and played Bunco with some friends:

Funny story that goes with this... When you play Bunco, you get a point every time you win and every time you get a 'bunco' (which is rolling three of the same target number). When we started the last round, the target number was 6. Before we started the round we realized Ryan would likely win 2nd place ($30) since he was 2 points behind the 1st place guy. However unlikely, he ended up rolling a bunco during that round. Then on the very next roll, he got ANOTHER bunco! Combine that with the fact that his team won the round, and Ryan took over the lead. $80 Bucks he won! Woo Hoo! Happy Birthday Ryan!

CLICK HERE to see the rest of the photos from Ryan's special day!

Oh, Jilli....

2010-04-22T15:03:00.002-04:00

Me: "Jilli, show me a pretty smile!"

Jillian: "Is it pretty when I do this with my nose-strils?"

Yes Jilli, flared nostrils are all the rage... ;)

That's better:

6 Years...

2010-04-17T23:04:00.005-04:00

It all started, just two kids meeting at Costco in April 2001, and going out on a date...

Camping, hiking, spending all our free time together...

Eventually, getting engaged in Sept. of '04!

Postponing our "big wedding" and getting married April 16th, 2004

Getting to know our friends at Ft. Riley as Mr. & Mrs. Kules ;)

Saying goodbye as Ryan headed to Iraq for a year...

A week long visit half way through his tour.

A lovely renewal of our vows on November 5th, 2006...

Happy pair:

Recently...

Last night as we headed out for an amazing dinner:

Happy Anniversary Ryan- I love you and I'm so glad we're on this journey together! ;)

Tulip Garden

2010-04-15T23:50:00.004-04:00

Today we went out to a Tulip Garden and had a wonderful time. The big girls (Jillian and her friend Tessa) got to run around and pose for photos, and Liv (& her baby friend Laney) got to hang out in their strollers and have some photos taken too. The tulips were in full bloom, and the weather today was beautiful in the low 70's! Ahh... a perfect spring day!

(And, just to note... I'm choosing to remember the perfection of the day vs. the hour drive & traffic to get there, the complete melt down Liv had mid tulip photo session, the entire cup of ICE cold water spilled on my lap at lunch, and the whiney child in my backseat on the way home... ode to be a Mom!)

Click HERE to check out all the pictures of Jillian and the Tulip Garden scenery and HERE to see Liv's baby blog for this week and all the photos of her with the tulips! :)

Happy Easter!

2010-04-04T21:18:00.002-04:00

More of Liv in her Easter dress to come... she was asleep during Jillian's Easter 'Photo Shoot!'

Hope everyone had a great day!!!

More photos, anyone?

2010-04-01T22:56:00.005-04:00

PHOTOS (LINK)

I try to put all of our photos on our Shutterfly account (link above or there is a button on the sidebar of our blog), and sometimes don't get around to making a blog entry about each of them. Just wanted to let you know in case you're interested in more pics of our family, they're there!

Each of these photos has a whole series that goes with them (that are on the shutterfly page) but just to share some albums of note:

Back when Liv was a newborn, we had some photos taken at Walter Reed for them to use for posters or other materials... This one has been used so far, and there are lots more...

Silly Jillian getting herself dressed... oops!

And, my Dad and Jillian building a sandbox together while we were in Vegas. This is a cute group of photos- so much love:

Face paint!

2010-03-30T21:46:00.004-04:00

We went out to dinner tonight, and there was a face painter. She was AMAZING! Check out the video below, (you may have to visit the blog directly if you're getting this via email: www.kulesfamily.blogspot.com) and see how FAST she did Jillian's whole face- WOW!

Ahhh! Look out for that Purple tiger!!
Arrrrgh!!!!
And a tiny one for the baby too...

Oh Quilt Fairy...

2010-03-26T15:35:00.005-04:00

Dear Quilt Fairy:

I was searching my closet for something spring-y to photograph the girls on. Hmmm... A yellow towel, nah... Purple? could be nice but, what? Hm? Oh, check my front porch you say? OH MY! That's JUST what I had in mind!

xox- Thank YOU Shere! You're amazing and spoil us so much!

Now if this rain/cold would pass and our spring sunshine could return so I can get photos in spring attire too!!! Stay tuned... ;)

P.S. I know you can't really see it in these photos, but the quilting on this is rocking horses with little clovers around the edge. ROCKING HORSES! Could it be any cuter?!?

Happy Girl, Happy Mom!

2010-03-20T21:04:00.002-04:00

Happy Girl: Jillian is such a happy girl. She loves helping her Mommy and Daddy, loves being a big sister, and is learning/doing/experiencing new things all the time. I love how well she is able to communicate, and what an insight this gives us into her little world. She's just so darn cute.

Happy Mom: My friend Kelly suggested these cups (pictured below), and despite a tumultuous beginning with them, we really like them. I just wanted to share my review with you other Moms out there, in case you're in the market for such a thing... They are made by Contigo (LINK) and they are a no spill option for when your kids are done with sippy cups. There's a button on one side that your child pushes (this requires a little bit of strength/dexterity so I'd say these are good for kids near 2.5 years and up) which opens a valve to release the liquid. They really are no spill, easy to wash, dishwasher safe, and cute too! ;)

Here's what made our experience with them less than perfect though... There's a little tab on the rim of each cup that keeps the lid from tightening too much and being difficult to take off. The problem is when the cup fell onto the ground (twice in one day!) the lid popped right off, and the drink went everywhere. During one of the spills, the little tab I described above broke off. I was thinking I would not really be able to use these cups anyway since they were unable to take a tumble, but ended up checking to see if the broken cup was still leak proof. Turns out, without the tab, the lid was able to tighten more and now it works better!!! So, Ryan broke off the rest of the tabs, and we have not had a problem since. So, if you get the cups, and find (like we did) that the top can come off if dropped, cut off those little tabs and you'll be thrilled with the product!

Happy spill proof traveling!